Surprises both good and bad...

9:37:00 PM Atticus Army 0 Comments

Hey Army

We are OUT of the cancer unit!!! At least for this week

Sorry, its been awhile so ill update you on several things that happened this last week! Overall Atticus handled his first cycle of Chemotherapy like a champ! He had trouble with nausea and threw up a few times but once we got that under control he did amazing! He walked all over the cancer care unit floor and kicked his ball everywhere!  In fact, they have a contest going that you get a little foot cutout on your door for each mile you walk, and Atticus got 4 of them!!!

Its so comforting as parents to see those happy, real kid moments with him playing and doing things he should be doing as an almost 2-year-old. Atticus's little giggle is contagious along with his smile! Many on the cancer floor were able to interact and get to know Atticus and his fun personality! They always waved and many already know him by name!  We are beyond grateful with his recovery and how well he handled this last week!

Mommy got a very special surprise visit from her best friends, Jessica and Aubrey on Friday afternoon! They showed up at Atticus's hospital room! It was a very emotional and joyful reunion. Daddy stayed with Atticus while mom went to dinner with her friends! It was a much-needed break from the hospital and a chance to feel normal for a minute in the outside world! We went down to University Village and ate dinner at a really yummy all American food restaurant and then got cupcakes and brought them back to the hospital room and ate them together! We laughed, cried and had the greatest time being together! It was by far one of the best and most memorable surprises of all time! I don't think my friends will ever know how much I needed them at that time! Our time and their surprise trip will forever be treasured! Thank you Jess and Aubs for pulling off the BEST surprise YET!!





We were released from the Seattle children's on Saturday at 1:00PM! one thing Seattle has always been good at is being on time for their discharges! They say a time and we are out!! It is always the best feeling in the world being released after a week stay! Even though we know we will be back every other day for appointments it's so nice to be home sleeping in our own beds and especially to all be under the same roof as a family! Its been so fun to be home and make the kids lunches, get them ready for school, walk them to and from school. These are things I LOVE doing as a mom and I cherish the time I get with my kids!

The weekend was so awesome, I was able to spend some more time with my friends! I almost forgot what being normal feels like! If there is such a feeling of "normal" anyways! I just don't know if normal is really a thing anymore! We were able to go down to Pikes place, public market! We Ate lots of yummy food from the Beechers cheese Factory to the french bakery's! We had the best time ever! We loved every minute of it! Thanks to my amazing supportive husband who helped plan the surprise with my girlfriends and for letting me go spend time with them! Caleb has always been so incredible and supportive of me having my girl time with my friends!

This is a GUM wall, Super gorss!!

Jessica and Aubrey brought some special surprises with them! Jess and Aubrey had bought Atticus Army camo bands and had been selling them to raise money for our family! She brought the donation from the money raised from the bands! We cannot thank them enough and the whole entire St. George Utah Community for their love and support! It means the world to us and you have no idea how much this helps our family! It is incredible the support we have received from so many! We wish we could individually thank and hug each one of you! Also, I worked at a Hair salon in St.George for over 10 years and the people i worked with are some of the most kind, giving people i have ever met! The whole salon wrote us a beautiful personal card and we just want to thank you for that along with your donations for our family! Caleb and I have cried many tears of gratitude for all these incredible people who love us and support our family!
Thank you to the WHOLE UNITED HAIRLINES FAMILY! We love you all so much! We hope you know how much your appreciated and have helped our family! Thank you for your kindness, your continued prayers and support! We also received a very special package from Wendy Vernon and family! Thank you so much!

We have received so many different packages, cards, money and more from so many people! We hope each and every one of you know how much it means to us! We truly wish we could give each one of you a big hug and personally thank you! Please know that each package or card is treasured and so special to us! It means more than you will ever know! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

SOME BIG GREAT NEWS!!

Monday September 26, 2016
So we started this week off with clinic and labs on Monday! They had a bit of trouble drawing blood from his Hickman line and thought maybe it was clogged! Thankfully it was not and later that day they were able to draw the rest of his blood for labs! His labs looked pretty good on Monday so good news! numbers will start dropping this week.. He had a dressing change for his Hickman line on Monday which has to be changed once a week! It is a little tricky because it has to be a sterile procedure! Thanks to dads muscles and helping hold Atticus we were able to have a successful dressing change!

After that we were able to get the final results from cytology on his LP (Lumbar Puncture) It was super exciting news and came back with ZERO Cancer cells which confirmed the MRI results that there are not metastasis present!! Seriously such a miracle and blessing from when before there were spots showing up on his MRI! We definitely have someone watching over us and our sweet Atticus!
MORE SURPRISES AND SOME NOT SO GOOD NEWS TOO......

Tuesday wasn't to exciting, as we had the day off as far as appointments.  Since Atticus's blood values were pretty good on Monday we decided we better take him out of the house while we could.  So we visited a few stores and ran a few errands.  The biggest thing Tuesday was that we had to say good bye to my mother.  She had been here for the last 2+ weeks helping us get settled, and watching our other 2 kiddos while we were at the hospital.  We can't begin to express how helpful that was and how much she will be missed.  Luckily we still have my sister here that has been super helpful and someone which we will have to continue to rely on throughout this whole crazy cancer whirlwind.

Wednesday September 28, 2016

Today we had clinic and labs again! His Hickman line performed beautifully and they were able to draw blood great today! Must have been a fluke thing on Monday! Ok so lab results from today were:
Hematocrit (HCT): 28 -normal is 31-48 Hematocrit measures red blood cells which are responsible for carrying oxygen to the body!
Platelets (PLT): 102-normal is from 150-500- They are responsible for clotting blood when bleeding
White Blood Cell (WBC): less than 200-normal is 500-12,000- responsible for fighting off infections.

Atticus at his first out patient blood draw.  He wasn't to impressed...

We found Mickey at the hospital.

SO, having his WBC and ANC this LOW can be very scary! This means basically he has not much of an immune system right now! We have to be super careful and cautious! We are home bound and washing and sanitizing everything! We are trying to do everything possible to avoid germs and infections! If Atticus gets a fever we have to rush him to the ER at Seattle Children's and we will be admitted for a minimum of 48 hours and he will be given iv antibiotics! The words FEVER and CANCER never should go together!

We are on close watch for Atticus, but we got the coolest new thing called the FEVERFRIDA!! We feel like ALL parents should own one of these! Its a tiny monitor that attaches on his side under his arm and stays there! It connects to your phone and alerts you when his temperature reaches certain levels you set! It is also tracks and records his temperature throughout the day! Now we can sleep worry free knowing that it will alert us at any sign of fever!!

Today we also got some not so fun news... our sweet boy has been loosing weight even with us trying to get him to eat everything we can! Most the time Atticus doesn't feel up to eating, he likes to snack but when it comes to actually eating good food he doesn't feel up to it! So today reviewing his growth and weight charts he started out in the 80% for weight and is now in the 20%. They say their eating habits only get worse as the chemo goes on so they feel its best to insert an NG-tube (feeding tube) in Atticus!

It was very hard news to take as parents! It was like the realization of how the Chemo is already affecting his tiny body is already taking a toll! I was emotional for a bit but then quickly realizing there are many benefits of the tube as well! It will be so nice and comforting to know that he is getting the proper nutrition! Also, being able to give him medication through his tube rather than by mouth will be really nice! Needless to say we didn't venture out and do much today! It looks like we will have many days ahead of just being home and steering clear of germs! But we are okay with that, our sweet Atticus is here and doing so well! Even though there will be many bumps along this
journey, we can take them one day art a time and work through them! Attiucs is so strong and such a little fighter! We will be strong with him and we are all fighting and cheering him on! We have a whole ARMY behind us!